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Ataq

14.538° N   46.832° E  ·  1148 M
67 /100
PEAK
Worth setting up — 3 hours of workable sky from 21:00.
BEST WINDOW 21:00–00:00 · ASTRO DARK 21:00–05:00 · MOON 0%
Transparency
0.88
Seeing
0.87
Cloud
20%
Moon
0%

Good tonight

Hour by hour, local to Ataq. Colour encodes the score and nothing else; every other measurement is luminance.

Sky state
Lighter = daylight and twilight  ·  unshaded = astronomical dark
Score
21
22
23
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
45
40
35
7
6
14
45
67
23
0
BEST WINDOW
Low cloud
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
0%
Mid cloud
9%
29%
23%
98%
99%
91%
50%
19%
14%
91%
High cloud
80%
65%
88%
59%
73%
32%
16%
19%
9%
1%
Transparency
0.88
0.77
0.77
0.81
0.87
0.88
0.85
0.81
0.81
0.77
Seeing
0.67
0.72
0.74
0.74
0.76
0.76
0.86
0.87
0.82
0.78
Moon clear
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
down
Inspect

Cloud tracks show clear sky — a longer bar is better. The figure inside each track is the raw measurement.

Why this hour scored what it did
21 Fair · 45/100
Starting from
100
Cloud
−49
Transparency
−3
Seeing
−4
Moonlight
−0
Darkness
−0
Score
45
CLOUD 81% LOW 0% MID 9% HIGH 80% SUN -37.0° MOON -35.2° / 0% WIND 5 TEMP 30°
Excellent 75+ Good 55+ Fair 35+ Poor 15+ Not worth it Seeing is estimated from surface wind — see how we score.
Tonight's limiting factor
When a clear gap is worth driving for

Ask how long the gap is relative to your setup time and your exposure length. A two-hour gap is a real session for a visual observer and close to worthless for someone doing four-minute subs on a target that needs three hours.

What are you doing tonight?

The same forecast, weighted for the target. Planetary work barely cares about moonlight; long exposures die on high cloud a visual observer would never notice.

SET UP 02:30 · OBSERVE 03:00–05:00 · 2H · MEAN 57

Darkness and moonlight dominate. Faint fuzzies need a genuinely dark sky more than they need steady air.

2123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 03:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
SET UP 02:30 · OBSERVE 03:00–06:00 · 3H · MEAN 55

Seeing is everything and moonlight is irrelevant. Bright targets punch through twilight, so darkness barely counts.

2123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 03:00CLOUD RETURNS 06:00MOONLIGHT IGNORED FOR THIS TARGET
SET UP 02:30 · OBSERVE 03:00–05:00 · 2H · MEAN 54

Tolerates soft seeing, but high cloud wrecks a wide frame and moonlight raises the background everywhere.

2123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 03:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
SET UP 03:30 · OBSERVE 04:00–05:00 · 1H · MEAN 54

Needs conditions to hold still for hours. Sustained transparency matters more than any single good hour.

2123010305
CLOUD BREAKS 04:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
SET UP 02:30 · OBSERVE 03:00–05:00 · 2H · MEAN 53

Naked eye, whole sky. Total cloud and moonlight are the only things that count.

2123010305
HIGH CLOUD CLEARS 03:00TWILIGHT BEGINS 05:00
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The next week of nights

Tonight · 12 Aug
67
Good
MOON 0%
21:00–00:00
Tomorrow · 13 Aug
60
Good
MOON 2%
03:00–05:00
Friday · 14 Aug
73
Good
MOON 6%
01:00–05:00
Saturday · 15 Aug
85
Excellent
MOON 13%
21:00–22:00
Sunday · 16 Aug
61
Good
MOON 21%
21:00–22:00
Monday · 17 Aug
55
Good
MOON 30%
03:00–04:00
Tuesday · 18 Aug
81
Excellent
MOON 39%
03:00–04:00
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Nearby locations

About this forecast

Conditions for Ataq, Yemen are computed from the MET Norway forecast model for these exact coordinates, combined with sun and moon positions we calculate directly. The score weighs cloud cover by layer, atmospheric transparency, estimated seeing, moonlight and how dark the sky actually gets. Read the full method →